Transcendent in America | Free Book

Transcendent in America | Free Book

Steven Lv12
Hindu-Inspired Meditation Movements as New Religion
Publisher:NYU Press
Published:January 2010
ISBN:9780814794708
Title:Transcendent in America
Author:Lola Williamson
Imprint:NYU Press
Language:English
Number of Pages:280

Yoga, karma, meditation, guru—these terms, once obscure, are now a part of the American lexicon. Combining Hinduism with Western concepts and values, a new hybrid form of religion has developed in the United States over the past century. In Transcendent in America, Lola Williamson traces the history of various Hindu-inspired movements in America, and argues that together they constitute a discrete category of religious practice, a distinct and identifiable form of new religion.
Williamson provides an overview of the emergence of these movements through examining exchanges between Indian Hindus and American intellectuals such as Thomas Jefferson and Ralph Waldo Emerson, and illuminates how Protestant traditions of inner experience paved the way for Hindu-style movements’ acceptance in the West.
Williamson focuses on three movements—Self-Realization Fellowship, Transcendental Meditation, and Siddha Yoga—as representative of the larger of phenomenon of Hindu-inspired meditation movements. She provides a window into the beliefs and practices of followers of these movements by offering concrete examples from their words and experiences that shed light on their world view, lifestyle, and relationship with their gurus. Drawing on scholarly research, numerous interviews, and decades of personal experience with Hindu-style practices, Williamson makes a convincing case that Hindu-inspired meditation movements are distinct from both immigrant Hinduism and other forms of Asian-influenced or “New Age” groups.


In The Press

Bringing together history and ethnographic interviews, Williamson argues that Hindu-inspired meditation movements are a distinct type of new religious movement, even if their followers and leaders may repeat the 'mantra' that they are 'spiritual but not religious.'"

  • Title: Transcendent in America | Free Book
  • Author: Steven
  • Created at : 2024-10-23 05:12:58
  • Updated at : 2024-10-26 19:33:16
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  • License: This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
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Transcendent in America | Free Book